Incumbent Republicans in five states beat back primary challenges as Republicans look poised to reclaim Senate.

When U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran decided to run for re-election last year, I said his face-off with Chris McDaniel for the Republican nomination would be as much about national politics as Mississippi politics. In essence, it was Haley Barbour versus Club for Growth, et. al.

Haley won.

The former Mississippi governor has been a leading fundraiser, operative and cheerleader for the traditional wing of the Republican Party, taking aim at the tea party insurgency wing that has been a major disruption to GOP leaders in Washington who have essentially been hamstrung in legislative efforts ranging from budgetary issues to immigration.

With McDaniel's announcement came a parade of national backers signaling their support and sending their money — Club for Growth, Senate Conservatives Fund, Citizens United, Tea Party Express and Tea Party Patriots.

National politicos called the Cochran-McDaniel race the one to watch, bestowing upon McDaniel the mantle of the tea party's only real shot at scoring a primary victory. In him they saw a young, smart, polished, conservative state senator with political experience.

Irony of ironies: McDaniel seemingly had it won, right up until an aspiring political blogger and McDaniel supporter made his way into a nursing home, took a photo of a bed-ridden Rose Cochran, posted it online in a video and then got arrested — along with three other alleged co-conspirators. Internal Cochran polls showed their guy losing serious ground. Internal McDaniel polls showed their guy leading. An aggregate of public polls showed McDaniel with the momentum.

Had it not been for Clayton Kelly and whomever conspired with him to get that photo, McDaniel would have likely won. Conspiracy theorists will say the Barbours somehow manipulated Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler into making the arrests and pushed District Attorney Michael Guest into pressing felony charges. And while the charges do seem a little extreme to me, those conspiracy theorists are, for lack of a better description, guano crazy.

Yet the McDaniel campaign and its supporters have blamed everyone for the challenger's misfortune, with Henry Barbour, nephew of the former governor, now their favorite whipping boy. They say he orchestrated a slew of race-baiting political tactics that hit late in the primary and continued into the runoff. Of particular disdain for McDaniel and his supporters are two sets of radio ads aimed at black voters. Barbour ordered none of the ads to be produced or aired, though he admits freely that his PAC — Mississippi Conservatives PAC — contributed to a group that aired one set of ads. Barbour denies any association with the people behind the other set of ads — the ones that link McDaniel to the Ku Klux Klan. A Democratic consultant from Jackson unassociated with Barbour or his PAC has claimed responsibility.

Then there's the fact that it's hard to find sympathy for someone crying about race-baiting who has spouted racially insensitive remarks on his old radio show, refused to decry a known racist, has questioned the legitimacy of black voters who participated in the primary runoff and whose challenge seems to be aimed squarely at backing out black votes from the final tally.

That hasn't stopped Missouri — yes Missouri — Republican Party Chairman Ed Martin from leading the fight against Henry Barbour, a national committeeman for Mississippi to the Republican National Committee. Martin called on RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to investigate Barbour. Martin's crusade came to a crushing crescendo this week in Chicago during the RNC's biannual meeting with two resolutions to censure Barbour — both of which were met with deafening silence and died unceremonious deaths due to lack of motions.

That was Wednesday. On Thursday morning, a members-only, closed door meeting was held during which Martin, Barbour and Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef all addressed the Mississippi primary. Multiple sources say Barbour was met with loud applause while Martin was met with, well, far less.

Henry won.

By Thursday night, the tea party movement saw their Senate primary push end with a big ol' goose egg in the win column as incumbent U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee won the GOP nomination against a field of six opponents that included the tea-party backed Joe Carr, a state lawmaker. As many pundits observed Friday morning, the establishment victories in Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and here in the Magnolia State give Republicans their best shot at winning back the Senate from Democrats, something that looks more likely than not at this point.

Nevertheless, it would be foolhardy to believe that the tea party is dead or even on their last breath. While McDaniel continues to push forward with an unexplainable and increasingly indefensible challenge effort, all the while slowly choking to death his political future, others who share his political philosophy will survive. In state races next year, many of the voters who participated in this year's Republican primary and runoff will be voting in Democratic primaries — even Republicans — because of local races. Such a scenario would give the most conservative wing of the Republican Party outsized influence in the GOP primary. Someone like state Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, would be a formidable opponent, though fundraising is likely to be an issue. (Honestly, Watson would have been a better opponent than McDaniel against Cochran, but that's a column for another time…)

Nevertheless, the tea party has experienced a major blow on the national level, and it came partially at the hands of Haley Barbour and his political machine. That machine was on demonstration here in Mississippi, where it turned out enough voters to win a hard-fought primary. And yes, some of those voters were — gasp! — Democrats, and some were — gasp! gasp! — black, but a lot of them were also Republicans who had sat at home June 3 thinking ol' Thad had it in the bag.

The hard part is still ahead, however. As Joe Scarborough said on Friday's edition of Morning Joe, Republicans spent $145 million fighting each other in primaries this year, and all they have to show for it is a 19-percent approval rating.

If Republicans take back the Senate, they will control Congress. If they want to lead, they'll have to heal some wounds and find a way to work together on an agenda that speaks to the American people's basic needs. Otherwise, Haley, Henry and the party as a whole haven't won much at all.